Silicon Laboratories CP2103 User Manual

CP2103-EK

CP2103 EVALUATION KIT USER ’S GUIDE

1. Kit Contents

The CP2103 Evaluation Kit contains the following items:

CP2103 Evaluation Board
RS232 Serial Cable
USB Cable
DVD
Quick Start Guide

2. Relevant Documentation

Application notes can be found on the Interface Application Notes page for all fixed-function devices:

www.silabs.com/interface-appnotes.

AN721: CP210x/CP211x Device Customization Guide — Customize the VID, PID, serial number, and

other parameters stored in the CP2103 EPROM.

AN197: Serial Communicat ions Guide for CP210x — Programming guide for using the Virtual COM Port

(VCP) drivers.

AN169: USBXpress Programmer’s Guide — Programming guide for using the USBXpress drivers.
AN220: C8051F32x and CP210x USB Driver Customization — VCP or USBXpress driver customization

tool.

AN223: Port Configuration and GPIO for CP210x — Programming guide and DLL for runtime control of

the CP2103 GPIO pins.

AN571: CP210x Virtual COM Port Interface — USB interface details for CP210x devices.

3. Software Setup

The Software Development Kit (SDK) for the CP2103 kit is included on the kit DVD. The latest version of this
installer can also be downloaded from the www.silabs.com/interface-software website. This package includes:

Device Customization Utility (AN721)
Documentation — data sheet, application notes, user’s guide, quick start guide, etc.
CP210x Virtual COM Port (VCP) Drivers
Software — Driver Customization Utility (AN220) and programming examples

The Windows installer should launch automatically after inserting the
appropriate directory on the
drivers to the system.

DVD to install the software package. Follow the instructions to install the SDK and

3.1. USBXpress Driver Development Kit

The Silicon Laboratories USBXpress® Development Kit provides a complete host software solution for interfacing to
CP210x devices. No USB protocol or host device driver e xpertise is req uired. Instead, a simple, high-level Applica tion
Program Interface (API) for the host software is used to provide complete USB connectivity. The USBXpress
Development Kit includes Windows device drivers, Windows device driver installer, host interface function library
(host API) provided in the form of a Windows Dynamic Link Library (DLL ). See Application Note AN169, “USBXpress
Programmer’s Guide” for detailed information on using the USBXpress drivers.

The USBXpress drivers are available here: www.silabs.com/usbxpress.
Click the USBXpress Development Kit link in the Download for Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista/Win7 section

to download the USBXpress drivers. Run the installer and follow the steps to install the software to the desired

DVD. For Mac and Linux, browse to the

Rev. 0.4 7/13 Copyright © 2013 by Silicon Laboratories CP2103-EK

CP2103-EK

CP2103 EK

Serial Device

RS232

CP2103 USB-to-

UART Bridge

USB

1

2

3

4

location. The default installation directory is C:\SiLabs\MCU\USBXpress_SDK.
Further installation instructions for the WinCE drivers can be found in the ReadMe.txt file contained inside the

driver package.

4. CP2103 Hardware Interface

The evaluation board is connected to a PC as shown in Figure 1.

1. Connect one end of the USB cable to a USB Port on the PC.

2. Connect the other end of the USB cable to the USB connector on the

3. Connect one end of the RS232 serial cable to the DB-9 connector on the

4. Connect the other end of the RS232 serial cable to the target serial device.

CP2103 evaluation board.

CP2103 evaluation board

.

2 Rev. 0.4

Figure 1. Hardware Setup

CP2103-EK

5. CP2103 Software Interface

If the Virtual COM Port drivers are used, the CP2103 will appear as a COM port in the Device Manager, as shown
in Figure 2. The CP2103 will always use the lowest available COM port for operation. For instance, if COM ports 1
and 2 are in use by other peripherals and applications, the CP2103 will use COM 3.

The CP2103 functions identically to a COM port from the reference point of both the host application and the serial
device, and it can support serial device control requests defined in the Microsoft Win32
Examples for how to communicate with the device as a serial COM port are included in AN197 on the

www.silabs.com/interface-appnotes page or in the SDK.

If the USBXpress drivers are used, the CP2103 will appear as a USB USBXpress device as shown in Figure 2.
Examples for how to communicate with the device using the USBXpress interface are included in AN169 on the

www.silabs.com/interface-appnotes page .

®

Communications API.

Figure 2. CP2103 in Device Manager

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CP2103-EK

J1

CP2103

J3

SUSPEND

J4

J2

Pin 2 Pin 1

J5

J7

J6

D3
D2

D1
D0

_________

D4

RS232

Transceiver

6. Target Board

The

CP2103
liminary software development. Numerous input/output (I/O) connections are provided to facilitate prototyping using
the evaluation board. Refer to

Evaluation Kit includes an evaluation board with a

Figure 3

for the locations of the various I/O connectors.

J1 DB9 connector for RS232 interfac e
J2 UART signal access connector
J3 USB connector for USB interface
J4, J7 Power Connector
J5, J6 GPIO Access Connector
D0–D3 Green GPIO LEDs
D4 Red SUSPEND

indicator LED

CP2103

device pre-installed for evaluation and pre-

Figure 3. CP2103 Evaluation Board

6.1. LED Headers (J5, J6)

Connectors J5 and J6 are prov ided to allow a ccess to th e GPIO pins on the CP2103. Place shorting blocks on J5
and J6 to connect the GPIO pins to the four green LEDs D0 - D3. These LEDs ca n be used to indicate active
communications through the CP2103. Table 1 shows the LED corresponding to each header position.

Table 1. J5 and J6 LED Locations

LED Pins

D0 J5[3:4]
D1 J5[1:2]
D2 J6[3:4]
D3 J6[1:2]

6.2. Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface (J3)

A Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector (J3) is provided to facilitate connections to the USB interface on the
CP2103. See Table 2 for the USB pin definitions.

Table 2. USB Connector Pin Descriptions

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Pin # Description

1 VBUS
2D­3D+
4 GND (Ground)

CP2103-EK

6.3. UART Signals (J1, J2)

A RS232 transceiver circuit and DB-9 connector (J1) are provided on the evaluation board to connect the CP2103
virtual serial port to external serial devices. See Table 3 for the RS232 J1 pin descriptions. The J2 connector is pro­vided to facilitate direct access to the CP2103’s UART signals. Shorting blocks on J2 are required to connect the
UART signals to J1. See Table 4 for J2 pin descriptions.

Table 3. RS232 Pin Descriptions

Pin Signal

1 DCD Input Data Carrier Detect
2 RXD Input Receive Data
3 TXD Output Transmit Data
4 DTR Output Data Terminal Ready
5 GND Ground
6 DSR Input Data Set Ready
7 RTS Output Request to Send
8 CTS Input Clear to Send
9 RI Input Ring Indicator

CP2103

Direction

Description

Table 4. J2 Pin Descriptions

Pins Signal

1-2 TXD Ou tput Transmit Data
3-4 RXD Input Receive Data
5-6 DTR Output Data Terminal Ready
7-8 RI Input Ring Indicator

8-10 DCD Input Data Carrier Detect

11-12 DSR Input Data Set Ready
13-14 CTS Input Clear to Send
15-16 RTS Output Request to Send

CP2103

Direction

Description

6.4. Power Connectors (J4, J7)

Two headers, J4 and J7, are included on the evaluation board to provide several power options. The following
describes the function of each connector:

J4 - Connects the CP2103 VDD (pin 6) to the main +3 V net that powers the other components (4 green

LEDs and RS-232 Sipex Part) on the board.

J7 - Connects CP2103 VIO input (pin 5) to the main +3 V net. Remove the shorting block to power VIO

from an external source.

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CP2103-EK

7. Schematic

6 Rev. 0.4

Figure 4. CP2103 Evaluation Board Schematic

DOCUMENT CHANGE LIST

Revision 0.1 to Revision 0.2

 Updated CD-RO M co nt en ts in Section “1. Kit

Contents” to correspond with versions 4.0 and later
of the CP210x Drivers and Product Information CD­ROM.

 Updated Sectio n “3 . Software Setup” to include

installation instructions for software included on
versions 4.0 and later of the CP210x Drivers and
Product Information CD-ROM.

 Added installation instructions for USBXpress Driver

Development Kit in Section “3. Software Setup”.

 Added screen sh ots in Section “5 . CP2103 Software

Interface”, for the Device Manager window after
correct installation of driver software.

Revision 0.2 to Revision 0.3

 Updated "3. Software Setup" on page 1.

Revision 0.3 to Revision 0.4

 Updated “1. Kit Contents” to change CD-ROM to

DVD.

 Added “2. Relevant Documentation”.
 Updated “3. Software Setup” to point to the drivers

on the website.

 Updated Figure 1 and Figure 2.

CP2103-EK

Rev. 0.4 7

CP2103-EK

The information in this document is believed to be accurate in all respects at the time of publication but is subject to change without notice.
Silicon Laboratories assumes no responsibility for errors and omissions, and disclaims responsibility for any consequences resulting from
the use of information included herein. Additionally, Silicon Laboratories assumes no responsibility for the functioning of undescribed features
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